COLORADO 


LUOLOW 


BANCROFT 

UBRAKY 


University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


Ludlow 


BEING  THE  REPORT  OF  THE 
SPECIAL  BOARD  OF  OF- 
FICERS APPOINTED  BY  THE 
GOVERNOR  OF  COLORADO 
TO  INVESTIGATE  AND  DE- 
TERMINE THE  FACTS  WITH 
REFERENCE  TO  THE  ARMED 
CONFLICT  BETWEEN  THE 
COLORADO  NATIONAL 
GUARD  AND  CERTAIN 
PERSONS  ENGAGED  IN  THE 
COAL  MINING  STRIKE  AT 

LUDLOW.  COLORADO 
APRIL  20,  1914 


£g,xy 


LUDLOW 


BEING  THE  REPORT  OF  THE 
SPECIAL  BOARD  OF  OFFICERS 
APPOINTED  BY  THE  GOV- 
ERNOR OF  COLORADO  TO  IN- 
VESTIGATE AND  DETERMINE 
THE  FACTS  WITH  REFERENCE 
TO  THE  ARMED  CONFLICT 
BETWEEN  THE  COLORADO 
NATIONAL  GUARD  AND  CER- 
TAIN PERSONS  ENGAGED  IN 
THE  COAL  MINING  STRIKE  AT 
LUDLOW,  COLO.,  APRIL 20,  1914 


C4-8 


FOREWORD 

I  am  directed  to  prefix  to  the  report  that  fol- 
lows an  explanation  of  its  occasion. 

On  the  16th  of  April,  1914,  all  of  the  troops 
of  the  Colorado  National  Guard  engaged  in  the 
occupation  of  the  strike  zone  were  withdrawn 
except  a  small  detachment  left  upon  police 
duty  at  Ludlow.  Four  days  later  the  country 
was  startled  by  the  happening  of  a  deadly  con- 
flict between  this  detachment  and  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  strikers'  tent  colony  at  Ludlow. 

The  press  reports  and  other  sources  of  infor- 
mation at  the  moment  were  very  sensational, 
conflicting  and  unreliable.  On  April  25th  His 
Excellency,  Elias  M.  Ammons,  Governor  of 
Colorado,  directed  the  Commanding  General  to 
constitute  a  board  of  officers  to  ascertain  and 
report  the  truth  of  the  occurrences  referred  to. 

The  Board  of  Officers  was  immediately  as- 
sembled, conducted  a  searching  inquiry  upon 
the  ground,  and  within  a  few  days  made  public 
its  report.  After  the  lapse  of  many  months, 
when  these  events  have  receded  into  their 
proper  perspective,  this  repon;  remains  the  one 
concededly  accurate  and  reliable  narrative  of 
what  has  been  made  the  subject  of  much  ex- 
travagant comment  and  misrepresentation. 

As  a  matter  of  public  interest,  therefore,  and 
by  order  of  Brigadier  General  John  Chase,  Ad- 
jutant General,  commanding  the  National  Guard 
of  Colorado,  the  report  is  reprinted  in  this  more 
permanent  form  for  the  information  of  all  con- 
cerned. 

EDWARD  J.  BOUGHTON, 
Lieutenant  Colonel  and  Judge  Advocate, 
Military  District  of  Colorado. 


Ludlow 


Denver,  Colorado,  May  2,  1914. 
To  General  John  Chase, 

Brigadier   General   Commanding   the    Mili- 
tary District  of  Colorado. 

On  April  25,  1914,  you  appointed  the  under- 
signed, Edward  J.  Boughton,  Major  and  Judge 
Advocate  of  the  Military  District,  W.  C.  Danks, 
Captain  First  Infantry,  and  Philip  S.  Van  Cise, 
Captain  First  Infantry,  a  board  of  officers  to 
inquire  into  the  causes  of  the  battle  at  Ludlow 
on  Monday,  April  20,  1914,  to  ascertain  what 
happened  during  or  as  a  result  of  that  battle, 
with  special  reference  to  the  death  of  women 
and  children,  the  killing  of  Martin,  Tikas,  Filer 
and  others,  the  burning  of  the  tent  colony  and 
the  claim  that  the  tents  were  looted;  to  fix  the 
responsibility  for  the  battle  and  its  results,  and 
to  report  fully  and  impartially  our  findings  and 
recommendations  to  the  Commanding  General. 

We  have  examined  under  oath  all  officers  and 
prisoners,  as  many  as  possible  of  the  soldiers, 
deputies,  mine  guards  and  townspeople  of  Lud- 
low  and  nearby  coal  camps.  We  have  made 
every  effort  to  obtain  the  testimony  of  such 
strikers  and  tent  colonists  as  were  not  within 
our  reach,  but  without  success.  The  strike 
leader,  William  Diamond,  at  Trinidad,  after 
promising  to  produce  before  us  at  our  request 
those  among  his  people  who  claim  to  have  wit- 
nessed any  of  the  incidents  of  the  day,  omitted 
to  do  so.  A  personal  request  made  upon  Mr. 
Lawson  and  Mr.  McLennan,  strike  leaders,  in 
Denver,  was  answered  in  their  presence  by  Mr. 
Hawkins,  their  attorney.  In  this  way  they  de- 
clined to  give  us  any  information,  upon  the 
ground  that  our  inquiry  was  not  publicly  con- 
ducted. 

i  As  a  result  of  our  investigation  we  submit  the 
ollowing  findings,  report  and  recommenda- 
ions: 

Battle  of  Ludlow 

To  a  proper  understanding  of  the  late  deplor- 
able happenings  around  Ludlow,  some  prelim- 
inary considerations  are  necessary.  It  is  im- 
possible to  estimate  those  events  justly  with- 
out some  general  knowledge  of  the  country,  the 


inhabitants  of  the  tent  colony  ani  personnel  of 
their  neighbors  in  the  military  camp  and  ad- 
jacent villages. 

A  crude  conception  of  general  directions  in 
the  Ludlow  vicinity  may  be  had  by  imagining 
a  gigantic  capital  letter  "K."    The  vertical  line 
of  such  a  letter  would  represent  the  Colorado 
&  Southern  Railroad  running  north  and  south. 
At  the  upper  or  southern  end  of  this  line  is 
what  has  been  called,  for  want  of  other  name, 
Water  Tank  Hill,  a  low,   gently-sloping  mesa 
commanding  the  territory  to  the  south,  east  and 
north.     At  the  lower  or  northern  end  of  the 
line  is  a  steel  railroad  bridge  crossing  a  deep 
arroyo  which  runs  through  the  whole  country 
in  a  general  east  and  west  direction.    The  arms 
of    the    "K,"    except   that   to    be    accurate    the 
lower  one  should  be  horizontal,  represent  roads 
which  at  the  extremities  of  the  arms  enter  the 
two  canons  of  Delagua  and  Berwind.    Up  these 
canons  lie  the  largest  and  richest  coal  mines 
of  the  state,  and  about  the  mines  are  clustered 
the  workmen's   villages  of  Delagua,   Hastings, 
Berwind,   Tobasco,   Tollerberg  and   others.     It 
will  thus  be  seen  that  the  point  at  which  the 
two  arms  converge  and  meet  the  shaft  of  the 
letter,  that  is  to  say,  the  point  where  these  two 
roads  unite  and   cross   the  railroad,   called   in 
that  locality  the  Cross-Roads,  is  a  point  that 
commands  the  approach  to  both  the  canons  as 
well  as  the  travel  north  and  south  along  the 
railroad.    It  was  at  this  commanding  point,  the 
Cross-Roads,  that  the  Ludlow  tent  colony  was 
located.     In  the  angle  formed  by  the  arms  of 
the  letter,  about  one-third  of  a  mile  from  the 
colony,  was  the  military  camp.     Since  early  in 
November  the  brown  tents  of  the  soldiers  and 
the  white  tents  of  the  colonists  stood  thus,  fac- 
ing each   other  across   the  railroad.     For  the 
protection    of    the    two    canons    military    sub- 
stations were  established,  one  at  Hastings  in 
the  northern  canon,  and  one  at  Cedar  Hill  in 
the  southern. 

The  Ludlow  tent  cotony,  by  far  the  largest 
of  all  such  colonies,  housed  a  heterogeneous 
population  of  striking  miners.  The  colony  num- 
bered hundreds  of  people,  of  whom  only  a  few 
families  were  Americans.  The  rest  were  for 
the  most  part  Greeks,  Montenegrins,  Bulgars, 
Servians,  Italians,  Mexicans,  Tyroleans,  Croa- 
tians,  Austrians,  Savoyards,  and  other  aliens 
from  the  southern  countries  of  Europe.  These 
people  had  little  in  common  either  with  the 
few  Americans  resident  among  them,  or  with 
one  another.  Each  nationality  had  its  own 
leader,  customs  and  mode  of  life.  We  are 
credibly  informed  that  within  the  colony  twen- 

6 


ty-two  different  tongues  were  spoken,  unintel- 
ligible one  to  another.  The  percentage  of 
American  citizens,  even  naturalized  citizens, 
was  small.  It  will  readily  be  seen  that  thece 
people  did  not  possess  much  means  of  inter- 
changing information  or  social  ideas.  This  fact 
is  important,  as  explaining  conduct  upon  their 
part  that  otherwise  might  seem  unaccountably 
strange. 

The  most  forceful  portion  of  the  colonists 
were  the  Greeks.  We  do  not  know  that  they 
outnumbered  the  other  nationalities  in  the  col- 
ony, but  we  are  positive  that  they  dominated 
it.  The  will  of  the  Greeks  was  the  law  of  the 
colony.  They  were  the  most  aggressive  ele- 
ment, the  fighting  men;  and  they  imposed  their 
desires  upon  the  rest.  These  Greeks  segre- 
gated themselves  in  a  quarter  set  apart  to 
them.  They  were  secretive.  Such  was  their 
position  and  authority  that  although  many  of 
the  nations  had  leaders  of  their  own,  the  Greek 
leader  was  the  master  of  the  tented  city.  By 
the  other  colonists  the  Greeks  were  regarded 
as  heroes,  for  many  of  them,  we  are  told,  had 
seen  service  in  the  Balkan  wars.  The  strange 
thing,  and  one  that  we  found  important,  is  that 
there  were  no  Greek  women  or  children  in  the 
colony. 

Living  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  colo- 
nist population  just  described  were  three  dis- 
tinct groups  of  men  controlled  by  distinct  feel- 
ings toward  the  strikers.  In  the  first  group 
were  the  non-union  workmen  in  the  mines  of 
the  adjacent  canons.  These  men  were  dwelling 
with  their  families  in  the  villages  about  the 
mines  where  they  were  employed.  Most  of 
them  were  recent  arrivals,  coming  in  as  strike- 
breakers to  take  the  strikers'  places  in  the 
mines.  This  class  is  not  to  be  confused,  as  it 
has  been,  with  the  mine  guards.  The  non- 
union workmen  were,  as  a  class,  men  of  indus- 
try and  peace,  of  practically  the  same  compo- 
sition as  the  inhabitants  of  the  tent  colony. 
Their  attitude  toward  the  strikers  was  one  of 
indifference  coupled  with  a  fear  of  molestation. 
But  they  held  no  animosity;  they  felt  them- 
selves the  permanent  inhabitants  of  the  vil- 
lages. A  troop  of  National  Guards  were  en- 
listed, about  the  middle  of  April,  among  the 
superintendents  and  foremen,  the  clerical  force, 
physicians,  storekeepers,  mine  guards,  and 
other  residents  of  the  coal  camps.  This  unit 
of  the  National  Guard  was  designated  Troop 
"A,"  but  so  recently  was  it  recruited  that  at 
the  time  of  the  battle  of  Ludlow  it  had  not  yet 
selected  its  officers  nor  was  it  supplied  with 
uniforms,  arms  or  ammunition.  (When  this 


company  was  called  to  reinforce  the  uniformed 
guardsmen  at  Ludlow,  its  members  appearing 
in  civilian  clothes  gave  rise,  perhaps  excusably, 
to  the  belief  of  the  strikers  that  they  were 
armed  mine  guards,  a  class  much  hated  by  the 
colonists.) 

These  mine  guards  formed  another  distinct 
class.  They  are  men  whose  employment  is  to 
guard  the  properties;  they  are  not  permanent 
residents  of  the  mine  communities  like  the  non- 
union workmen,  but  have  come  with  the  strike 
and  will  depart  with  it.  The  mine  guards  are 
usually  employed  through  a  detective  agency 
making  a  specialty  of  such  work.  The  strikers' 
ill  will  toward  this  agency  and  the  armed 
guards  it  furnishes  antedates  the  present 
trouble  and  is  born  of  a  long  series  of  conflicts 
in  other  fields  and  other  states.  During  the 
weeks  before  the  coming  of  the  soldiers  last 
fall  these  armed  mine  guards  and  the  strikers 
fought  many  a  battle,  from  all  of  which  it  has 
come  to  pass  that  the  deadliest  hatred  exists 
between  the  strikers  of  the  tent  colonies  and 
the  mine  guards  of  the  coal  camps. 

The  third  class  of  men  in  this  vicinity  con- 
sists   of    the    uniformed    and    armed    National 
Guardsmen  who  have  been  on  duty  during  this 
campaign.    With  an  exception  to  be  note.d  pres- 
ently, this  class  has  no  feeling  either  of  hatred 
or  of  fear  toward  the  colonists,  whose  nearest 
neighbors    they    were.      Throughout    the    cam- 
paign a  friendly  relationship   was   maintained 
between  the  two  groups  of  tents.     Ball  games 
were  played  between  them  and  athletics  were 
indulged  in  common.     We  find  the  attitude  of 
most  of  the   soldiers  toward  the  colonists   to 
have    been    throughout   the    campaign    one   of 
friendly  indifference.     We  find,  however,  from 
the   examination    of   the   colonists   themselves 
that  this   neutral   friendliness   of  the   soldiers 
was  not  returned,  but  that  a  large  portion  of 
the    strikers    harbored   a   suppressed   hostility 
towards  the  militia,  the  intenser  for  its  being 
suppressed.      The     exception     referred    to    is 
the    company   of   mounted    infantry   occupying 
the  sub-station  at  Cedar  Hill  in  Berwind  Canon, 
designated  Company  "B"  and  commanded  for 
the  greater  part  of  the  campaign  by  Lieutenant 
K.  E.  Linderfelt.    This  officer  is  an  experienced 
soldier  and  an  inexperienced  sociologist.    He  is 
a  veteran  of  five  wars,  but  wholly  tactless  in 
his  treatment  of  both  mine  guards  and  strikers. 
From  the  beginning  of  the  campaign  this  militia 
organization  and  the  strikers  in  the  colony  were 
in  frequent  petty   conflicts   with  one  another. 
They  grew  to  dislike  each  other  and  to  worry, 
harass  and  annoy  one  another.    Both  sides  fed 

8 


the  flame  of  increasing  enmity.  They  pro- 
voked each  other  on  every  possible  occasion. 
The  strikers  spread  wires  across  the  roads  in 
the  dark  to  trip  the  soldiers'  horses  and  thus 
to  maim  both  man  and  beast.  The  soldiers 
,  indulged  in  reprisals.  In  this  way  dislike  grew 
into  hatred  and  provocation  into  threats.  From 
threats  by  each  against  the  others'  lives  the 
strikers  have  come  to  fear  and  hate  this  "B" 
Company,  and  "B"  Company  has  come  to  par- 
take of  the  fear  of  the  workmen  and  the  hatred 
of  the  mine  guards  toward  the  colonists. 

Upon  the  withdrawal  of  flie  troops  from  the 
field  it  was  felt  necessary  to  leave  one  unit  at 
Ludlow  between  the  largest  colony  of  the 
strikers  on  one  side  and  the  richest  mines  and 
the  most  populous  mine  camps  on  the  other. 
Company  "B"  was  selected  for  that  service  be- 
cause, albeit  hated  by  the  strikers,  it  was 
feared  and  respected  by  them.  Lieutenant  Lin- 
derfelt,  whose  life  was  in  peril  from  the  deadly 
hatred  of  this  large  foreign  population,  was 
relieved  of  the  command  and  sent  away  upon 
recruiting  service.  Thus  it  will  ue  seen  that 
the  participants  in  the  dreadful  battle  of  April 
20th  were  distributed  around  a  triangle,  the 
strikers  in  the  colony  at  the  Cross-Roads,  the 
workmen  of  Troop  "A"  and  the  mine  guards  ai 
Hastings  in  Delagua  Canon,  and  "B"  Company 
at  Cedar  Hill  in  Berwind  Canon.  It  should 
here  be  explained  that  after  fhe  coming  of  the 
soldiers  last  October  and  until  their  departure 
a  few  days  before  the  baltle  of  Ludlow,  there 
were  practically  no  mine  guards  in  this  vicinity, 
but  upon  withdrawing  the  protection  of  the 
National  Guard  from  the  mines  and  communi- 
ties of  the  strike  zone,  the  mine  guards  re- 
turned to  the  employment  of  the  mine  owners. 

We  believe  that  such  an  incident  as  the 
battle  of  Ludlow  was  inevitable  under  the  con- 
ditions that  we  found.  Our  belief  is  based 
upon  an  analysis  of  the  forces  of  human  pas- 
sion we  discovered  to  have  been  at  work. 
These  forces  we  find  to  have  been  as  follows- 

The  tent  colony  population  is  almost  wholly 
foreign  and  without  conception  of  our  govern- 
ment. A  large  percentage  are  unassimilable 
aliens  to  whom  liberty  means  license,  and 
among  whom  has  lately  been  spread  by  those 
to  whom  they  must  look  for  guidance  a  dan- 
gerous doctrine  of  property.  Rabid  agitators 
had  assured  these  people  that  when  the  soldien* 
left  they  were  at  liberty  to  take  for  their  own. 
and  by  force  of  arms,  the  coal  mines  of  their 
former  employers.  They  have  been  sitting  in 
their  tents  for  weeks  awaiting  the  departure  of 
the  soldiers  and  the  day  when  they  could  seize 

9 


what  they  have  been  told  is  theirs.     When  the 
troops  were  withdrawn  elsewhere  and  this  one 
unit  left  at  Ludlow,  many  of  the  strikers  be- 
lieved that  the  men  whom  they  saw  in  uniform 
were  no  longer  members  of  the  National  Guard, 
but  hired  gunmen  or  mine  guards  who  retained 
their  uniforms  for  want  of  other  clothing1.  They 
saw  the  hated  mine  guards  return.     They  were 
told  by  their  leaders,  as  they  have  always  been, 
that  the  mine  guards  intended  to  attack  their 
colony.      The    greed,    fears    and    most    brutal 
hatreds    of    the    violent    elements    were    thus 
aroused,  and  they  began  to  prepare  for  battle. 
They  laid  in  a  store  of  arms,  two  or  three  at  a 
time.     They  bought  quantities  of  ammunition, 
they    built    military    earthworks    in    concealed 
places,   they   dug   pits   beneath   their   tents    in 
which  they  designed  to  put  their  women  and 
children   as   a   place   of   safety.     They   got  ail 
things  ready.     The   Greeks  in  particular,  who 
had  deeply  resented  the  searching  of  the  colony 
and  the  taking  of  their  arms  by  the  soldiers, 
swore  that  their  arms  should  never  be  taken 
from  them  again.     In  this  movement,  as  in  all 
others,  the  Greeks  were  the  leaders.     Not  all 
of  the  colonists  by  any  means  were  taken  in 
on  the  general  plan.     Those  who  were  thought 
timorous  or  unwilling  were  told  nothing  of  what 
was  going  on.    We  found  that  there  were  many 
in  the  colony  who  now  bear  a  deep  resentment 
against  the  Greeks,  who  had  no  wives  or  chil- 
dren   to    protect,    for   precipitating    the    battle 
without  giving  th€;ir  fellows  opportunity  to  pre- 
pare for  it.     While  these  warlike  preparations 
were   going    forward,    though    they    were    con- 
cealed from  some  in  the  colony,  yet  they  were 
shared  by  others  who  knew  better  and  who,  in 
the  last  analysis,  must  take  their  share  of  the 
responsibility  for  the  awful  results  that  ensued. 
We  learn  that  there  was  found  in  the  tent  of 
John  R.  Lawson  large  stores  of  ammunition  in 
thousand-round  boxes,  awaiting  distribution.  By 
all  tl  ese  means  the  fighting  part  of  the  colony 
had  worked  themselves  into  a  frenzy.    The  col- 
ony was  electrified;   a  spark  only  was  needed 
to  set  off  an  explosion.     The  spark  fell  unwit- 
tingly on  Monday,  the  20th  of  April. 

As  is  usual  with  such  inevitable  conflicts,  the 
battle  was  unexpectedly  precipitated  and  by 
a  trifling  incident.  Two  facts  in  this  con- 
nection stand  out  very  clearly.  One  is  that  the 
conflict  was  contemplated,  prepared  against, 
deliberately  planned  and  intended  by  some  of 
the  strikers,  and  was  feared  and  expected  by 
the  s.oldiers  and  inhabitants  of  the  mining  vil- 
lages. The  otl'er  fact,  equally  clear,  is  that 
neither  side  expected  it  to  fall  at  the  time  or  in 

10 


the  manner  that  it  did.  That  the  colonists 
were  and  intended  to  be  the  aggressors  there 
can  be  no  doubt  in  the  world.  It  was  evidently 
with  some  difficulty  that  the  Greek  portion  of 
the  colony  had  been  restrained  from  giving 
battle,  now  the  main  body  of  state  troops  was 
withdrawn.  We  find  from  examination  of  the 
colonists  themselves  that  talk  of  such  an  attack 
upon  the  soldiers,  to  be  followed  by  a  seizure 
of  the  mines,  expulsion  of  the  non-union  work- 
men and  vengeance  upon  the  mine  guards,  had 
been  rife  in  the  colony  for  many  days.  Ac- 
cording to  the  Greek  church,  Easter  fell  on 
Sunday,  the  19th,  and  we  have  it  from  Greeks 
and  others  in  the  colony  that  the  Greeks  at 
least  had  planned  such  an  attack  as  part  of 
the  festivities  of  that  day.  In  the  celebration 
on  Sunday,  however,  the  Greeks  got  pretty 
drunk  and  the  matter  was  postponed  until  Tues- 
day. We  find  that  these  plans  of  the  Greeks 
were  not  known  generally  throughout  the  col- 
ony, and  many  there  were  who  were  wholly 
ignorant  that  the  colony  gossip  of  an  attack 
had  taken  any  such  definite  form.  There  were 
two  Greeks  in  the  colony  who  had  a  brother  at 
work  in  the  nearby  Ramey  mine  near  the  en- 
trance of  Berwind  Canon.  On  Sunday,  after 
the  plan  to  deliver  the  attack  on  Tuesday  had 
been  perfected,  these  Greeks  visited  their  non- 
union brother,  told  him  of  the  plan  and  begged 
him  to  leave  before  Tuesday's  work  of  destruc- 
tion commenced.  This  workman  communicated 
the  information  thus  received  to  his  employers 
at  the  mine  on  Sunday  evening,  who  had  in- 
tended to  warn  Major  Hamrock  before  Tuesday 
morning.  Before  that  information  was  dis- 
closed the  battle  was  precipitated  on  Monday. 

It  is  very  certain  that  the  soldiers  were  not 
expecting  any  attack  or  molestation  at  the 
time  on  the  day  of  the  battle.  II  is  true  that 
such  an  attack  was  always  feared  by  soldiers 
and  civilians  alike.  All  believed  that  sooner 
or  later  it  would  come.  For  weeks  before 
the  withdrawal  of  the  troops  it  had  been  a  set- 
tled belief  that  some  day,  when  the  military 
force  should  be  weakened,  the  strikers  would 
undertake  to  wipe  out  soldiers  and  civilian 
workmen  alike.  But  on  the  morning  of  the 
Ludlow  conflict  the  idea  of  battle  was  furthest 
from  the  minds  of  the  few  remaining  troopers. 
Had  such  an  attack  been  planned  by  the  mili- 
tary, the  soldiers  would  have  occupied  the  com- 
manding positions  and  delivered  it  at  dawn 
instead  of  allowing  those  places  to  be  occupied 
by  the  strikers  with  such  force  that  it  took 
all  day  to  drive  the  colonists  from  them.  In- 
stead of  any  such  warlike  preparations,  we  find 

11 


that  on  Monday  morning,  at 'the  very  time  the 
battle  began,  Major  Hamrock,  in  command,  had 
with  him  in  the  tents  facing  the  colony  but 
three  men,  one  of  whom  was  a  cripple.  The 
entire  force  of  soldiers  in  the  vicinity  num- 
bered thirty-four,  of  whom  twelve  occupied  the 
tents  in  view  of  the  colony,  and  twenty-two 
were  stationed  at  Cedar  Hill  in  the  mouth  of 
Berwind  Canon.  The  rest  of  Major  Hamrock's 
dozen  were  watering  their  horses  or  attending 
to  their  routine  camp  duty  at  some  distance 
from  the  tents  when  the  fire  commenced. 

At  the  station  at  Cedar  Hill  there  were  pres- 
ent the  wives  of  three  of  the  officers,  the  wives 
and  children  of  several  of  the  enlisted  men, 
with  civilian  visitors  and  their  wives,  all  of 
whom  had  spent  Sunday  with  their  relatives. 
One  of  these  women  was  shortly  to  give  birth 
to  a  baby.  With  all  of  these  women  and  chil- 
dren at  the  entrance  to  the  canon,  and  with 
the  certainty  that  the  defeat  of  the-  soldiers 
meant  the  invasion  of  their  camps  and  the 
villages  beyond,  it  is  folly  to  believe  that  at 
such  a  moment  the  battle  was  deliberately 
brought  about  by  the  troops. 

The  other  unequivocal  fact  that  we  find  is 
that  the  battle  was  unexpectedly  precipitated 
on  Monday,  and  that  its  coming  was  not  known 
at  all  to  the  soldiers  nor  to  a  greater  portion 
of  the  tent  colony.  It  had  been  planned  by  the 
Greeks  for  Sunday.  It  was  planned  by  them 
for  Tuesday,  but  the  spark  that  kindled  the  fires 
of  war  fell  without  warning  on  Monday  morn- 
ing. 

Lieutenant  Linderfelt,  who  happened  to  be 
visiting  his  brother  at  Cedar  Hill  on  Sunday 
and  whose  return  to  Trinidad  with  his  wife 
was  for  some  reason  delayed  until  Monday 
morning,  received  a  letter  from  some  foreign 
woman,  claiming  that  her  husband  was  being 
detained  against  his  will  in  the  tent  colony. 
This  letter  was  sent  to  Major  Hamrock  at  the 
tents  near  the  colony. 

A  few  soldiers  are  detailed  to  meet  every 
train  to  see  that  the  passengers  getting  on  or 
off  are  not  molested  by  the  colonists.  By  this 
train  detail  Major  Hamrock  sent  word  to  the 
Greek  leader,  Louis  Tikas,  who  was  also  chief 
man  of  the  colony,  calling  attention  to  the 
letter  and  demanding  the  release  of  the  writer's 
husband.  Tikas  denied  that  any  such  man  was 
in  the  colony.  The  men  of  the  train  detail 
answered  that  they  were  sure  he  was,  and  that 
if  not  delivered  they  would  come  back  in  force 
and  get  him.  These  men,  of  course,  had  no 
authority  for  any  such  statement,  but  it  was  in 
line  with  the  ill  feeling  that  we  have  described 

12 


as  existing  between  these  particular  men  and 
the  colonists.  The  train  detail  reported  the 
answer  of  Tikas  to  the  Major,  who  then  called 
Tikas  over  the  telephone  and  asked  him  to 
come  to  the  military  camp,  as  he  had  done  a 
hundred  times  before,  to  talk  it  over.  The 
reply  was  most  unusual.  For  the  first  time 
Tikas  flatly  refused  to  come  to  the  •  Major's 
camp.  Thereupon  the  Major  telephoned  to  the 
station  at  Cedar  Hill,  and  told  the  Captain  in 
charge  that  he  might  have  need  of  him  and  his 
men  to  search  the  colony  for  a  man  held  pris- 
oner there.  The  Cedar  Hill  detachment  was 
ordered  to  drill  on  the  parade  ground  at  Water 
Tank  Hill.  Referring  again  to  our  simile  of  the 
capital  letter  "K,"  it  will  be  remembered  that 
the  Cedar  Hill  station  is  at  the  extremity  of 
the  upper  arm  of  the  letter,  and  Water  Tank 
Hill  is  at  the  top  of  the  vertical  shaft,  the 
colony  and  Major  Hamrock's  tents  facing  each 
other  where  all  the  lines  join.  It  should  be 
added  that  Cedar  Hill  is  invisible  from  the 
tents  of  the  colony,  being  up  the  canon  a  way, 
but  Water  Tank  Hill  is  in  plain  view  of  the 
strikers'  tents.  A  part,  not  all,  of  the  men 
from  Cedar  Hill  saddled  their  horses  and  pro- 
ceeded to  Water  Tank  Hill. 

In  the  meantime  Tikas  telephoned  to  the 
Major  that  he  would  meet  him  at  the  railroad 
station,  which  is  about  equi-distant  from  the 
two  sets  of  tents.  After  this  conversation 
Major  Hamrock  telephoned  again  to  Cedar  Hill 
and  directed  the  remaining  soldiers  to  join 
their  troop  on  the  parade  ground,  and  to  bring 
with  them  the  machine  gun. 

We  find  that  after  the  train  detail  left,  Tikas 
was  surrounded  by  his  Greeks  in  the  colony, 
and  that  these  Greeks  were  under  the  impres- 
sion that  the  colony  was  about  to  be  again 
searched  for  arms — a  thing  which  they  had 
vowed  they  would  never  again  permit.  The 
Greeks  were  vociferous  and  insistent  upon  giv- 
ing battle  to  the  soldiers  at  once  if  they  should 
appear.  Tikas  did  the  best  he  could  to  dis- 
suade and  quiet  them.  It  was  then  that  he 
called  Major  Hamrock  by  telephone.  Return- 
ing to  the  group  of  Greeks,  he  told  them  that 
he  must  go  to  the  station  to  see  the  Major,  and 
got  them  to  promise  that  they  would  do  nothing 
until  his  return.  Tikas  met  at  the  station 
Major  Hamrock  and  the  woman  who  had  writ- 
ten the  letter  and  who  complained  that  her 
husband  was  being  held  a  prisoner  in  the 
colony.  Tikas  recognized  this  woman  and  then 
stated  that  he  knew  her  husband,  who  had  been 
in  the  colony  on  Saturday,  but  was  no  longer 
there. 


During  this  conversation  at  the  station  the 
first  detachment  from  Cedar  Hill  arrived  on 
Water  Tank  Hill,  and  their  officer,  Lieutenant 
Lawrence,  galloped  down  to  the  station  and  re- 
ported to  Major  Hamrock.  In  the  meantime 
the  Greeks  continued  talking  together  in  the 
colony,  awaiting  the  return  of  Tikas.  Three 
women,  who  had  been  to  the  store  near  the 
station,  returned  excitedly  to  the  colony,  and 
called  the  attention  of  the  Greeks  to  the  arrival 
of  the  troopers  on  Water  Tank  Hill.  This  was 
enough  to  set  the  smouldering  fire  aflame.  The 
Greeks,  confirmed  in  their  belief  and  consumed 
with  a  suppressed  thirst  for  battle,  forgetting 
their  promise  to  Tikas,  seized  their  rifles  and 
defiled  from  the  colony  across  country  to  the 
right  of  the  "K,"  to  a  railroad  cut  on  the  Colo- 
rado &  Southeastern  tracks,  affording  excellent 
cover  for  delivering  a  rifle  fire  on  Water  Tank 
Hill.  These  Greeks,  as  nearly  as  we  could  dis- 
cover, were  estimated  variously  to  number  from 
thirty-five  to  fifty  men.  Their  march  across 
the  country  was  in  plain  view  of  all  save  the 
Major,  Tikas  and  Lieutenant  Lawrence,  talking 
together  in  the  station. 

At  the  same  time  there  left  the  colony  a 
much  larger  number  of  men  of  other  nation- 
alities, armed  with  rifles,  going  northwest  to 
the  arroyo  crossed  by  the  steel  bridge  at  the 
foot  of  the  "K."  This  group  was  never  o 
served  by  any  of  the  soldiers,  and  their  takin 
position  in  the  arroyo  was  related  to  us  by 
civilians. 

Lieutenant  Lawrence,  having  reported  to  the 
Major,    left   to   return    to    his    detachment    on 
Water  Tank  Hill.     He  had   gone  but  a  short 
way  when  he  galloped  back  to  the  station  an 
cried  out:     "My  God,  Major,  look  at  these  men; 
we  are  in  for  it,"  pointing  toward  the  Greek 
defiling  toward  the  railroad  cut.    Tikas  was  the 
first  to  answer.     He  immediately  jumped   up, 
saying,  "I  will  stop  them,"  and,  pulling  out  hi 
handkerchief,  ran  toward  the  colony,  waving  t 
the   Greeks   to   return.     A   civilian   and   unio 
sympathizer     who     met     Tikas     as     he     ran, 
told   us   that  he  heard  him   exclaim:      "What 
damned  fools!"    Major  Hamrock  directed  Lieu- 
tenant Lawrence  to  return   to  his   troop   and 
await    developments.      After    the    Lieutenan 
reached  Water  Tank  Hill,  and  not  before,  th< 
machine  gun  and  remaining  men  from  C 
Hill  arrived.    Major  Hamrock  hurried  from  th 
station  to  his  tents,  and  reported  the  conditions 
to  General  Chase  in  Denver.     While  returni 
to  his  camp  the  Major  observed  the  women  an 
children  of  the  colony  in  large  numbers  run 
ning  from  the  colony  north  to  the  shelter  of  the 


: 

ig 


14 


arroyo.  This  was  observed  also  by  the  men  In 
the  tents,  by  the  Major's  adjutant,  Lieutenant 
Benedict.  and  by  the  men  on  Water  Tank  Hill. 
All  tell  us  that  the  exodus  of  women  and  chil- 
dren was  sufficient  to  account  for  all  that  were 
known  to  be  in  the  colony.  Lieutenant  Bene- 
dict, observing  the  colony  at  this  time  through 
his  field  glasses,  plainly  saw  Tikas  leave  and 
hurry  toward  the  Greeks,  now  nearly  arrived  at 
their  intended  position.  Tikas  was  carrying  a 
rifle  in  one  hand  and  a  field  glass  in  the  other. 
It  is  evident  that  on  returning  to  the  colony 
and  seeing  the  futility  of  preventing  the  out- 
break, Tikas  had  armed  himself  and  hastened 
to  his  compatriots. 

As  yet  no  shot  of  any  kind  had  been  fired. 
In  expectation  of  just  such  an  attack,  a  signal 
had  been  devised.  Two  crude  bombs  were 
made  of  sticks  of  dynamite,  and  it  was  under- 
stood that  if  the  colonists  attacked  suddenly, 
so  that  there  was  not  time  to  telephone  the 
various  villages  in  the  canons,  or  the  wires 
were  cut,  these  bombs  should  be  exploded  as  a 
warning.  After  telephoning  to  Denver,  the 
Major  caused  these  bombs  to  be  set  off,  and 
so  far  as  we  can  learn,  this  was  the  first  ex- 
plosion of  the  day.  We  learned  from  the  col- 
onists that  they  were  thought  to  be  some  new 
kind  of  ammunition  or  possible  artillery  pos- 
sessed by  the  soldiers. 

In  the  meantime,  while  all  this  was  going  on, 
there  were  still  but  the  three  men  left  in  the 
soldiers'  tents  with  the  Major,  the  rest  con- 
tinuing their  routine  duties  at  some  distance, 
in  apparent  ignorance  of  what  was  happening. 
But  in  the  meantime  the  men  on  Water  Tank 
Hill  were  deployed  as  skirmishers,  observing 
the  advance  of  the  Greeks  toward  their  cover. 
The  men  almost  rebelled  against  their  officers 
at  this  time,  demanding  to  know  whether  they 
must  allow  the  Greeks  to  reach  concealment 
before  opening  fire.  Lieutenant  Linderfelt  or- 
dered that  no  shots  should  be  fired  unless  the 
soldiers  were  first  fired  upon.  About  the  time 
the  Greeks  reached  the  cover  of  the  railroad 
cut,  the  fire  began.  We  are  unable  to  state 
from  which  point  the  firing  came  first,  except 
that  it  came  from  the  strikers.  Upon  that 
point  all  of  the  witnesses  of  all  shades  of  sym- 
pathies arc  wholly  agreed.  Some  of  the  soldiers 
insist  that  the  firing  was  opened  from  the  di- 
rection of  the  steel  bridge  and  arroyo,  while 
others  are  satisfied  that  it  came  from  the 
Greeks  in  the  railroad  cut.  From  whatever 
soun •»>  the  firing  came,  the  first  of  it  was  di- 
rci-t»»d  toward  the  soldiers'  tents,  but  it  must 
very  soon  have  been  directed  generally  against 

15 


Water  Tank  Hill  and  the  whole  countryside 
between  that  point  and  the  Hastings  Canon. 
After  the  fire  started,  it  was  several  minutes 
before  the  men  on  Water  Tank  Hill  were  di- 
rected to  return  it.  The  enlisted  men  in  this 
position  we  find  still  resentful  against  their 
officers  for  withholding  their  fire  so  long.  The 
position  taken  by  the  Greeks  in  the  railroad 
cut  was  one  that  proved  very  difficult  to  drive 
them  from. 

Thus  the  battle  began,  and  its  history  from 
this  time,  as  we  learned  it  from  all  sources  of 
eye-witnesses,  is  a  history  df  the  advance  of 
the  detachment  on  Water  Tank  Hill  down  the 
shaft  of  the  "K,"  past  the  colony,  to  the  capture 
of  the  steel  bridge  at  the  foot,  which  was  not 
accomplished  until  after  dark. 

Shortly  after  the  firing  commenced,  it  be- 
came very  general.  On  the  strikers'  side  it 
proceeded  from  the  railroad  cut,  from  the  tent 
colony  and  from  the  arroyo  beyond  it.  It  was 
returned  from  Water  Tank  Hill,  from  a  row  of 
steel  cars  in  the  vicinity  of  the  soldiers'  tents, 
and  from  houses  and  stores  along  the  road 
between  the  colony  and  the  northern  canon. 
Lieutenant  Lawrence  and  three  men  advanced 
from  Water  Tank  Hill  toward  the  Greek  posi- 
tion in  the  railroad  cut  with  a  view  to  dislodge 
the  men  shooting  from  that  cover.  One  of 
these  men,  Private  Martin,  was  shot  through 
the  neck.  He  called,  "Lieutenant,  I  am  hit." 
As  the  blood  gushed  out  in  spurts,  the  Lieu- 
tenant put  his  thumb  into  the  wound  and 
stopped  the  flow  of  blood.  A  first  aid  bandage 
was  then  applied.  The  strikers'  fire  proved  in- 
supportable, and  the  squad  withdrew,  helping 
Martin  back  with  them.  They  were  compelled 
to  leave  Martin  under  cover  and  return  without 
him.  As  they  retreated  the  strikers  followed 
until  under  cover.  Several  attempts  were  made 
by  the  soldters  during  the  day  to  recover  their 
wounded  comrade,  but  it  was  not  until  the 
afternoon  when  Captain  Carson  arrived  from 
Trinidad  with  reinforcements  and  another  ma- 
chine gun  that  they  were  able  to  drive  the 
strikers  back  and  reach  the  place  where  Mar- 
tin lay.  Just  before  dark  this  was  accom- 
plished and  Martin  was  discovered  dead  and 
mutilated.  He  had  been  shot  through  the 
mouth,  powder  stains  evidencing  that  the  gun 
was  held  against  his  lips.  His  head  had  been 
caved  in,  and  his  brains  exuded  on  the 
ground.  His  arms  had  been  broken.  In 
such  a  way  does  the  savage  blood-lust  of 
this  Southern  European  peasantry  find  ex- 
pression. In  this  connection  we  find  also 
that  without  exception  where  dying  or  wounded 

16 


adversaries,  whether  soldiers  or  civilians,  had 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  these  barbarians  they 
were  tortured  or  mutilated.  The  coroner  and 
other  civilian  witnesses  testified  before  us  as 
to  the  condition  of  the  corpses  recovered  in  the 
many  battles  in  the  Southern  field.  Hocker- 
smith,  killed  near  Aguilar,  Dougherty  and 
Chavez,  killed  near  Delagua,  and  many  others, 
were  all  tortured  or  mutilated  when  dead  or 
dying.  As  we  prepare  this  report  Kanor  Lester 
is  deliberately  slain  at  Walsenburg  while  at- 
tending  the  wounded  under  the  protection  of 
the  Red  Cross  of  Geneva,  recognized  as  in- 
violable by  civilized  men  the  world  over.  It  is 
shocking  to  think  of  our  Colorado  youth  de- 
fending their  state  and  exposed  to  practices  of 
savagery  unheard  of  save  in  the  half-believed 
tales  of  the  Sicilian  Camorra. 
~  The  recovery  of  Martin's  body,  thus  muti- 
lated, we  find  to  have  had  the  effect  of  exciting 
his  comrades  to  a  frenzy,  which  may  account 
for  some  things  that  took  place  later  near  the 
tent  colony  itself. 

Lieutenant  Lawrence  engaged  the  Greeks  in 
the  railroad  cut  all  day  long.  We  find  that  he 
never  left  Water  Tank  Hill,  except  to  advance 
against  the  cut.  His  machine  gun  was  used 
only  in  that  direction  until  late  in  the  after- 
noon. Captain  Linderfelt  and  two  lieutenants 
of  the  same  name,  with  other  men  on  Water 
Tank  Hill,  sought  all  day  to  advance  down  the 
shaft  of  our  letter  "K"  to  the  steel  bridge  and 
arroyo  at  the  northern  end.  In  the  meantime 
Lieutenant  Benedict  and  the  men  at  the  mili- 
tary camp,  reinforced  later  by  Troop  "A"  from 
Hastings,  who  came  down  the  northern  canon, 
were  engaging  the  strikers  firing  from  the 
arroyo,  the  tent  colony  and  beyond. 

During  the  morning  the  men  fighting  around 
the  two  groups  of  tents  were  reinforced  by  "A" 
Troop,  the  non-union  men  from  Hastings,  and 
also  by  the  mine  guards  from  both  canons.  In 
the  afternoon  the  men  on  Water  Tank  Hill  were 
joined  by  Captain  Carson  and  a  number  of  "A" 
Troop  men  from  Trinidad  and  vicinity  with  an- 
other machine  gun.  Along  toward  dusk  Lieu- 
tenant K.  E.  Linderfelt  was  able  to  advance 
as  far  as  the  railroad  station,  about  600  yards 
from  the  tent  colony.  His  advance  from  this 
point  to  the  colony  and  beyond  to  the  steel 
bridge  and  the  arroyo  was  covered  by  the  two 
machine  guns  on  Water  Tank  Hill,  which  were 
trained  on  the  strikers  retreating  along  the 
line  of  the  railroad  and  on  the  steel  bridge, 
after  having  finally  dislodged  those  who  had 
been  firing  all  day  from  the  cut.  This 
the  first  time  the  niMfinm.  .mnis  \\cre  turned 


17 


in  the  direction  of  the  colony,  and  that  they 
were  trained  down  the  railroad  right-of-way 
and  not  upon  the  colony  is  evident  from  the 
most  casual  inspection.  We  found  the  fences, 
water  tanks,  pump  house  and  other  objects  on 
the  right-of-way  riddled  with  machine  gun  bul- 
let-holes, but  posts,  chicken-houses  and  other 
objects  that  remained  standing  directly  in  front 
of  the  colony  and  in  the  line  of  fire  appeared 
to  be  scathless,  thus  proving  beyond  any  doubt 
that  the  colony  was  never  at  any  time  swept 
by  the  machine  guns.  This  does  not  mean  that 
the  machine  guns  were  not  fired  into  the  col- 
ony, as  we  shall  presently  show  that  they  were, 
but  it  does  show  that  there  was  no  general 
and  wanton  mowing  down  of  the  tents,  as  has 
been  imputed.  Under  the  protection  of  the  ma- 
chine guns'  fire,  Captain  Linderfelt,  Captain 
Carson  and  Lieutenant  K.  E.  Linderfelt  were 
from  this  time  able  to  advance  steadily.  They 
were  accompanied  by  part  of  the  Water  Tank 
Hill  detachment,  the  reinforcements  from  Trin- 
idad in  civilians'  clothes,  and  some  mine 
guards.  Their  fire  was  returned  from  their 
front  all  along  the  arroyo  and  from  the  tent 
colony  itself.  The  men  to  the  west  between 
the  colony  and  the  canon  were  about  this  time 
likewise  able  to  press  closer  to  the  arroyo  and 
the  tent  colony.  As  both  these  forces  ap- 
proached the  colony  the  heaviest  fire  seemed  to 
come  from  the  very  tents  themselves.  The  fire 
of  all  was  for  the  first  time  drj  wn  directly  into 
the  colony.  It  was  then  that  Major  Hamrock 
tested  his  range  with  the  machine  guns  on 
Water  Tank  Hill  and  sent  them  directly  into 
the  first  tents  of  the  colony  itself,  at  the  same 
time  the  strikers'  fire  drew  a  return  from  all 
combatants  into  the  same  tents.  It  was  this 
concentrated  fire  upon  the  nearest  tents  in  the 
southwest  corner  of  the  colony  that  set  them 
on  fire.  It  could  not  be  supposed  that  any 
women,  children  or  other  non-combatants  re- 
mained in  the  colony  itself.  The  women  and 
children  had  been  seen  departing  early  in  the 
morning,  and  it  was  impossible  to  believe  that 
the  strikers  would  draw  the  fire  of  their  oppo- 
nents from  all  sides  into  the  colony  if  any 
women  and  children  remained  therein. 

Shortly  after  the  fire  started  the  detonation 
of  some  high  explosive  like  some  giant  powder 
or  dynamite  was  both  heard  and  seen.  From 
one  of  the  tents  a  shower  of  its  contents  could 
be  seen  rising  high  in  the  air,  emitting  a  blaze 
of  fire.  As  one  tent  caught  after  another,  sev- 
eral other  explosions  occurred.  During  this 
time  some  of  the  men,  having  nearly  reached 
the  tent  colony,  heard  the  screams  of  women 

18 


and  called  to  men  whom  they  saw  firing  from 
between  the  tents  to  get  their  women  out.  The 
only  answer  was  the  words,  "You  go  to  hell," 
spoken  with  a  foreign  accent  and  accompanied 
by  a  rain  of  shots.  The  men  in  the  colony 
being  driven  back  and  the  presence  of  women 
being  thus  known,  Captain  Carson,  Lieutenant 
Linderfelt  and  other  officers  and  men,  made  a 
dash  in  among  the  burning  tents  for  the  pur- 
pose of  rescuing  the  women  and  children.  At 
first  they  took  several  women  from  the  tents, 
some  of  which  were  on  fire  and  some  not;  then 
they  discovered  some  subterranean  pits  be- 
neath many  of  the  tents  and  that  some  of  them 
were  stored  with  human  occupants.  The  rescue 
work  was  most  difficult,  as  the  women  refused 
to  accompany  the  soldiers  and  even  fought 
against  being  taken  away.  They  said  after- 
wards that  they  believed  the  soldiers  would 
kill  them.  They  had  to  be  dragged  to  places 
of  safety.  When  the  pits  were  discovered  the 
difficulty  of  getting  out  the  women  and  chil- 
dren was  increased.  Captain  Linderfelt  took 
a  woman  from  one  tent  who  could  not  speak 
English,  but  who  made  him  understand  that  he 
must  return.  She  went  back  with  him  and  in- 
dicated one  of  these  holes  in  the  ground,  from 
which  the  Lieutenant  took  two  little  children, 
just  in  the  nick  of  time.  He  stalked  from  the 
colony  with  these  children  in  his  arms.  Cap- 
tain Carson  relates  that  when  he  was  in  an 
apparently  open-floored  tent  he  heard  the  cry- 
ing or  whining  of  something"  living  beneath. 
He  had  to  chop  away  the  floor,  which  was 
nailed  down  upon  these  people  in  order  to  get 
them  out.  These  holes  were  so  constructed  as 
to  conceal  their  presence  and  the  openings  to 
them  were  usually  hidden  by  the  bed  or  some 
article  of  furniture  being  placed  above  them. 
During  the  whole  time  that  this  rescue  work 
was  going  forward  the  colony  was  under  fire 
from  the  arroyo,  so  that  not  only  did  the  officers 
and  men  have  to  contend  with  the  fire  and 
with  the  reluctance  of  the  deluded  people  they 
were  rescuing,  but  were  taking  the  greatest 
chances  of  destruction  by  making  targets  of 
themselves  in  the  light  of  the  burning  tents. 
We  find  that  the  work  of  rescuing  these  women 
and  children,  to  the  number  of  some  twenty- 
five  or  thirty,  by  Lieutenant  Linderfelt,  Captain 
Carson,  and  the  squads  at  their  command,  was 
under  all  the  circumstances,  truly  heroic  and 
must  stand  out  boldly  in  contradistinction  to 
ili'-  abandonment  of  the  helpless  women  and 
children  by  their  own  people  and  the  subse- 
quent efforts  to  kill  their  rescuers,  regardless 
of  the  safety  of  the  rescued.  It  was  supposed 

19 


by  the  officers,  after  a  thorough  search  of  the 
colony,  that  all  of  the  remaining  women  and 
children  had  been  taken  out.  The  event  proved 
that  one  of  the  pits  had  been  missed  in  the 
search.  In  this  pit  were  subsequently  discov- 
ered two  women  and  eleven  children,  all  dead. 
This  chamber  of  death  measured  in  feet 
8x6x4 y2 .  When  found  it  was  almost  closed. 
The  quantity  of  air  contained  in  such  a  space 
we  found  could  not  have  supported  the  life 
of  these  occupants  for  many  hours.  Their 
bodies,  when  found,  bore  heartrending  evi- 
dences of  their  struggles  to  get  out.  If  these 
women  and  children  were  placed  in  this  pit  at 
any  time  during  the  morning,  it  is  our  belief 
that  they  died  of  suffocation  hours  before  the 
tents  caught  fire.  Among  those  taken  out  of 
the  colony  by  the  rescue  parties  was  a  man 
named  Snyder  and  his  family.  The  man  carried 
in  his  arms  the  dead  body  of  his  little  son. 
This  boy  had  been  shot  in  the  forehead  and 
was  indeed  the  only  person  shot  in  the  colony. 
A  story  was  given  wide  publicity  that  this  lad 
was  ruthlessly  shot  down  by  the  soldiers  while 
trying  to  get  a  drink  of  water  for  his  dying 
mother.  Snyder  came  to  the  depot  with  this 
dead  child  in  his  arms,  and  there,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  many  civilians  and  officers,  related  how 
the  boy  had  gone  outside  to  answer  a  call  of 
nature  and  had  faced  toward  the  arroyo  from 
which  the  strikers'  fire  was  coming,  when  he 
was  accidentally  hit  in  the  forehead  by  the 
bullet  that  caused  his  death.  It  was  Snyder 
who  told  in  this  conversation  how  the  Greeks 
had  planned  this  battle  for  their  Easter  the 
day  before.  At  that  time,  whatever  he  may 
say  now,  his  resentment  was  bitter  against  the 
Greeks  in  the  colony,  whom  he  blamed  for 
everything  that  had  happened.  A  collection 
was  taken  up  among  the  officers  and  the  sol- 
diers, amounting  to  some  eighteen  dollars,  and 
given  to  refugees. 

During  the  rescuing  and  afterwards,  the  tent 
colony  was  invaded  by  the  soldiers  and  mine 
guards  for  quite  a  different  purpose.  By  this 
time  the  uniformed  guardsmen  had  been  joined 
by  large  numbers  of  men  in  civilian  attire, -part 
of  whom  were  from  Troop  "A"  and  part  of 
them  mine  guards,  all  unknown  to  the  uni- 
formed soldiers  and  their  officers  and  all  un- 
used and  unamenable  to  discipline.  By  this 
time,  the  time  of  the  burning  of  the  tents,  the 
nondescript  number  of  men  had  passed  out  of 
their  officers'  control,  had  ceased  to  be  an  army 
and  had  become  a  mob.  Doubtless  all  were 
seeing  red  on  both  sides  of  the  conflict.  This 
may  account  for  the  insane  shooting  by  the 

20 


strikers  during  the  rescue  of  their  women  and 
children,  and  it  may  also  account  for  what 
happened  in  the  tents.  We  find  that  the  tents 
were  not  all  of  them  destroyed  by  accidental 
fire.  Men  and  soldiers  swarmed  into  the  col- 
ony and  deliberately  assisted  the  conflagra- 
tion by  spreading  the  fire  from  tent  to  tent 
Beyond  a  doubt  it  was  seen  to  intentionally 
that  the  fire  should  destroy  the  whole  of  the 
colony.  This,  too,  was  accompanied  by  the 
usual  loot.  Men  and  soldiers  seized  and  took 
from  the  tents  whatever  appealed  to  their 
fancy  of  the  moment.  In  this  way,  clothes, 
bedding,  articles  of  jewelry,  bicycles,  tools  and 
utensils  were  taken  from  the  tents  and  con- 
veyed away.  So  deliberate  was  this  burning 
and  looting  that  we  find  that  cans  of  oil  found 
in  tlie  tents  were  poured  upon  them  and  the 
tents  lit  with  matches.  From  a  tent  marked 
"John  Lawson's  Headquarters"  were  taken  a 
store  of  new  underclothes  and  a  mass  of  am- 
munition piled  in  thousand-round  boxes.  It 
has  been  said  that  the  next  morning  there  re- 
mained  standing  tents  which  were  afterwards 
destroyed.  A  very  careful  investigation  of  that 
statement  has  led  us  to  a  settled  belief,  and 
we  so  find  that  all  of  the  tents  were  burned 
on  Monday  night  and  that  what  burning  ana 
looting  there  was  was  completed  before  morn- 
Ing. 

To  return  now  to  the  progress  of  the  battle, 
while  the  tents  were  burning  and  after  the 
rescue  work  had  been  completed  and  the 
|women  and  children  cared  for,  the  men  under 
Captain  Linderfelt  pressed  on  down  the  rail- 
road, and  after  a  stubborn  fight  took  and  occu- 
pied and  held  the  steel  bridge  that  commanded 
the  arroyo.  The  taking  of  this  bridge  ended 
the  battle.  From  this  time  on  for  several  hours 
the  firing  continued,  but  in  gradually  diminish- 
ing volume,  until  it  ceased  altogether,  about 
midnight. 

In  taking  the  steel  bridge  two  men  had  been 
left  at  a  pump  house  between  the  colony  and 
arroyo.  At  this  point  these  men  took  a  pris- 
oner who  proved  to  be  Tikas,  Louis  the  Greek. 
The  men  brought  this  prisoner  back  along  the 
railroad  to  the  Cross-Roads  at  the  corner  of 
the  colony,  and  called  out,  "We've  got  Louis 
the  Greek."  Immediately  between  fifty  and 
seventy-five  men,  uniformed  soldiers,  men  of 
Troop  "A"  and  mine  guards,  rushed  to  that 
point.  Lieutenant  Linderfelt  came  up  with  the 
others.  Tikas  was  then  turned  over  to  the 
Lieutenant,  his  captors  returning  to  their  post. 
Some  words  ensued  between  the  Lieutenant 
and  Tikas  over  the  responsibility  for  the  day's 

21 


doing's.     Lieutenant  Linderfelt  swung  his  rifle 
over   Louis'   head,    breaking   the   stock   of  the 
gun.     There  were  cries  of  "Lynch  him"  from 
the  crowd.     Someone  ran  into  the  tent  colony 
and  got  a  rope  and  threw  it  over  a  telegraph 
pole.     Lieutenant   Linderfelt   had   difficulty   in 
restraining  the  crowd.     He  declared  that  there 
should  be  no  lynching  and  turned  the  prisoner 
over  to  Sergeant  Cullen,  with  instructions  that 
he   would   hold    the    Sergeant    responsible   for 
Tikas'   life.     About  this   time   two   other   pris- 
oners were  brought  to  the  Cross-Roads,  whom 
Captain  Linderfelt   had  captured   at  the   steel 
bridge  and  sent  down.     These  were  Filer,  the 
secretary  of  the  union,  and  an  unknown  whom 
we  believe,  however,  to  have  been  Frank  Ru- 
bino.     Sergeant  Cullen  in  turn  turned  his  pris- 
oners   over   to    Privates    Mason    and   Pacheco. 
Lieutenant  Linderfelt  then  went  back  along  the 
tracks   to   the   station.      During   this   time   the 
group  of  men  and  prisoners  at  the  Cross-Roads 
was  standing  erect  in  the  glare  of  the  burning- 
tents;  they  were  not  firing  but  afforded  an  ex- 
cellent   target    to    their    adversaries.      Shortly 
after   the   departure   of  Lieutenant   Linderfelt, 
firing  was  resumed.    The  men  returned  to  their 
places  under  cover  of  the  railroad  embankment 
and  recommenced  firing  into  the  colony.     The 
three  prisoners  ran  through  this  fire  toward  the 
tents   and  were  all   shot  before  they  reached 
them.     Tikas   was   shot  in  the   back,   showing 
that  he  was  killed  from  the  soldiers'  side.  Filer, 
however,   who    got   nearest   to   the   tents,    was 
shot  in  front,  showing  that  he  was  killed  from 
the  strikers'  side.    The  unknown,  who  dropped 
between  the  other  two,  we  have  no  information 
of.     Two  bullets  passed  clear  through  the  body 
of  Tikas,   showing  that  they   must  have  been 
steel-jacketed  bullets,  such  as  are  used  by  the 
soldiers  and  also  by  some,  of  the  mine  guards 
and  Troop  "A"  men.     The  one  bullet  that  was 
found  in  his  body  is  a  soft-nosed  bullet,  which 
is  an  ammunition  never  used  by  the  soldiers. 

In  speaking  of  the  different  kinds  of  bullets 
used  in  the  battle  of  Ludlow,  we  are  led  to 
controvert  a  statement  that  the  soldiers  and 
men  supporting  them  used  explosive  bullets. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  understand  why  this  mis- 
take is  made.  The  steel-jacketed  bullet  used 
in  the  present  Springfield  rifle  makes  a  noise 
in  passing  through  the  air  very  like  an  explo- 
sion. By  the  sound  alone  it  could  very  easily 
be  mistaken  for  an  explosive  bullet.  The  bul- 
let extracted  from  Louis  Tikas  was  not  an  ex- 
plosive bullet.  It  was  submitted  to  us  by  the 
coroner  and  we  found  it  to  be  a  very  common 
type  of  soft-nosed  bullet.  While  not  inhuman, 

22 


like  explosive  and  poisoned  bullets,  still  it  is 
a  thing  prohibited  under  the  rules  of  civilized 
warfare.  The  strikers  that  day  were  actually 
using  explosive  and  poisoned  bullets,  as  many 
such  were  recovered.  The  explosive  bullet 
contains  at  its  nose  a  small  percussion  cap 
which,  upon  striking,  explodes  a  charge  within 
and  scatters  the  bullet  in  tiny  fragments,  thus 
tearing  a  large  and  ghastly  hole  in  anything 
in  which  it  is  imbedded.  Some  of  the  poisoned 
bullets  contain  no  poison,  being  a  composition 
of  lead  and  copper  instead  of  steel  and  nickel, 
as  our  bullets  are  now  made.  Others  are  filled 
with  verdigris.  The  former  ammunition  was 
used  for  a  while  shortly  after  the  Civil  War, 
and  has  been  universially  known  as  a  poisoned 
bullet,  because  it  sets  up  blood  poisoning  al- 
most instantly  wherever  it  penetrates  the 
human  body. 

There  is  little  left  to  tell.  The  remaining 
hours  of  the  night  were  spent  by  both  sides  in 
desultory  firing,  gradually  dying  out  about  mid- 
night. The  refugees  from  the  tent  colony  seem 
to  have  betaken  themselves  in  a  general  east- 
erly and  northeasterly  direction  to  the  farm 
houses  on  the  plains  and  the  cover  of  the 
Black  Hills— low  hills,  two  or  three  miles  to 
the  east  rising  from  the  plains.  These  hills 
swarmed  with  men  all  the  next  day.  The  tent 
colony  continued  to  burn — in  fact,  it  burned  all 
of  Monday  night  and  Tuesday  night.  Whether 
or  not  some  tents  remained  standing  on  Tues- 
day morning  which  were  then  destroyed  by 
men  in  uniform,  as  has  been  stated,  we  were 
unable  to  determine.  Such  a  thing  is  possible, 
but  not  probable,  in  our  judgment.  Around 
about  midnight  Monday  the  soldiers  and  their 
allies  were  withdrawn  from  the  field  of  battle 
and  given  a  few  hours'  sleep.  Before  the  dawn 
on  Tuesday  they  were  all  awakened  and  sent 
to  occupy  the  commanding  positions  in  all  di- 
rections at  some  distance  from  Ludlow.  This 
was  done  in  expectation  of  a  renewed  attack. 
It  is  this  circumstance,  of  which  there  can  be 
no  doubt,  that  leads  us  to  the  belief  that  there 
were  no  soldiers  in  the  vicinity  of  the  tent 
colony  when  daylight  broke  on  Tuesday  and 
that  all  the  tents  were  destroyed  on  Monday 
night. 

We  find  that  the  dominant  feeling  among  the 
refugee  colonists  on  Monday  night  and  before 
a  second  thought  came  to  them  or  was  sug- 
gested to  them,  was  resentment  against  the 
Greeks  for  starting  the  battle,  which  was  bound 
to  entail  results  that  it  did.  This  feeling  of 
resentment  against  the  Greeks  prevailed  even 
over  their  resentment  against  the  soldiers,  but 

23 


the  incident  was  later  made  a  handle  to  inflame 
the  minds  of  these  deluded  men  to  the  acts  of 
slaughter  and  rapine  that  followed  throughout 
the  state.     It  was  made  the  excuse  of  many 
bold  and  defiant  utterances  and  acts  of  treason 
against  the  state  by  certain  .union  leaders,  who 
had  the  opportunity  by  their  influence  and  au- 
thority to  prove  themselves  really  great   and 
good   men   and   worthy   citizens.     Instead,    by 
all   means   of   exaggeration,   incendiarism   and 
treasonable  practices,  they  made  of  the  battle 
of  Ludlow  a  means  of  organizing  a  real  rebel- 
lion,   with    its    attendant   awful    consequences. 
We   do  not  presume   even  to  hint  where  the 
ultimate    responsibility    lies     in    the    present 
strike.     It  may  be  that  the  coal  operators  or 
the  union  are  wholly  to  blame  for  the  condi- 
tions that  have  made  such  results  possible;  it 
may   be   that   both   sides    are   partly   at   fault. 
But  the  conditions  having  been  brought  about 
and    being    actually    existent,     whatever    the 
cause,  we  feel  that  for  their  treason  and  re- 
bellion against -organized  society,  with  the  hor- 
rible  consequences    of  anarchy   that   followed, 
certain   union   leaders   must   take   the   respon- 
sibility before  man  and  God. 

Findings  of  the  Board 

1.  We  find  that  the  remote  cause  of  this, 
as  of  all  other  battles,  lies  with  the  coal  opera- 
tors, who  established  in  an  American  industrial 
community  a  numerous  class  of  ignorant,  law- 
less and  savage  South-European  peasants.  The 
present  underlying  cause  was  the  presence  near 
Ludlow,  in  daily  contact  one  with  another,  of 
three  discordant  elements — strikers,  soldiers 
and  mine  guards,  all  armed  and  fostering  an  in- 
creasing deadly  hatred  which  sooner  or  later 
was  bound  to  find  some  such  expression.  The 
immediate  cause  of  the  battle  was  an  attack 
upon  the  soldiers  by  the  Greek  inhabitants  of 
the  tent  colony,  who  misinterpreted  a  move- 
ment of  troops  on  a  neighboring  hill. 

2.  These  Greeks  and  the  more  violent  ele- 
ment of  the  strikers  had  prepared  for  such  an 
event  by  bringing  back  into  the  colony  the 
arms  secreted  to  escape  the  searches  of  the 
guardsmen.  This  was  done  in  the  latter  part 
of  March.  They  also  secured  a  large  amount 
of  ammunition,  and  awaited  a  favorable  mo- 
ment for  an  engagement  in  which  they  hoped 
to  catch  the  soldiers  unprepared,  and  thus  wipe 
out  the  defense  of  Hastings  and  Berwind  Canon. 
Their  plans  miscarried  and  the  battle  precip- 
itated suddenly  on  Monday  morning  was  unex- 
pected by  all. 

24 


3.  A  military  detail  went  to  the  colony  to 
demand  of  Louis  Tikas,  the  colony  leader,  the 
release  of  a  man  said  to  be  detained  by  the 
strikers.     The   man   was   not   delivered.     Hot 
words  passed  between  the  soldiers  and  strikers. 
When  the  detail  left,  the  Greeks,  over  the  pro- 
test  of  their   leader,   ran   for   their   guns   and 
threatened  to  fight.     Major  Hamrock  brought 
the  detachment  from  Cedar  Hill  down  to  Water 
Tank  Hill,   in   plain   view   of  the  colony,   pre- 
paratory  to   searching  the  colony   for   its   al- 
leged prisoner.    Some  excitable  women,  seeing 
these  troops  on  the  hill,  and  nervous  over  the 
actions  of  the  Greeks,  rushed  into  the  colony, 
screaming  that  the  soldiers  were  about  to  at- 
tack.    Thereupon  the  Greeks  filed  out  of  the 
colony  to  a  railroad  cut,  and  soon  afterwards 
fired  the  first  shots  of  the  battle  against  the 
soldiers.     This  is  obvious  from  the  fact  that 
no  dead  bodies  were  found  between  the  colony 
and  the  cut.    As  the  Greeks  were  in  open  coun- 
try,   the    machine    gun,    if    fired,    would    have 
mowed  them  down. 

4.  The  Greeks,  always  warlike  and  obstrep- 
erous, had  no  women  or  children  in  the  colony. 
They  at  least  had  not  provided  themselves  with 
arms  and  ammunition  for  the  defense  of  their 
homes  and  families.     They  had  their  guns  in 
hand    with    the    intention    of    starting   trouble 
when  the  soldiers  appeared  on  the  hill. 

5.  The   women   and    children    of   other   na- 
tionalities rushed  to  the  protection  of  an  arroyo 
in  the  rear  of  the  colony.   Some  took  shelter  in 
pits  prepared  for  such  use  under  the  tents.  The 
presence  of  these  pits  and  the  women  and  chil- 
dren  in   them   was   unknown   to   the   soldiers. 
Many  men  in  the  colony  seized  their  guns  and 
took  up  a  position  in  this  arroyo  and  on  the 
railroad  bridge  that  crossed  it. 

6.  Private   Albert   Martin,    while    dying,    or 
after    death,    was    horribly    mutilated    by    the 
strikers.      We    find    this    practice    to    be    cus- 
tomary with  these  people  in  battle. 

7.  The  origin  of  the  fire  in  the  tent  colony 
was  accidental;  that  is  to  say,  it  was  due  either 
to  an  overturned  stove,  an  explosion  of  some 
sort,  or  the  concentrated  fire  directed  at  one 
time  against  some  of  the  tents.    The  fire  began 
in  the  corner  nearest  the  Cross-Roads.     After- 
wards it  was  deliberately  spread  by  the  com- 
batants.    During   the   fire   the   soldiers,    upon 
learning  that  women  and  children  were  still  in 
the  colony,  went  through  the  tents,  calling  upon 
all   the  persons  in  the  colony  to  come  forth, 
and  with  difficulty  rescuing  men,  women  and 
children   to    the   number   of   some    twenty-five 

25 


or  thirty,  including  one  William  Snyder  and  his 
family.     Then  the  tents  were  fired. 

8.  The    troops    engaged    in    the    beginning 
were  the  regularly  enlisted  and  uniformed  mem- 
bers  of   Company   B,   Second  Infantry,   armed 
with    Springfield    U.    S.   Army    rifles,    shooting 
only  the  cupro-nickel   bullet  as  manufactured 
for   the   army.     They   had   one   machine   gun. 
Later  in   the   day   they   were   reinforced   by   a 
second  machine  gun.    There  were  also  the  un- 
uniformed  members  of  Troop  A,  mine  guards 
and  deputy  sheriffs,  all  of  whom  were  using  a 
miscellaneous  assortment  of  arms  and  ammu- 
nition. • 

9.  During  the   evening1  Louis  Tikas,  James 
Filer  and  an  unknown  striker  were  taken  pris- 
oners.    Lieutenant  K.  E.  Linderfelt  swung  his 
Springfield  rifle,  breaking  the  stock,  over  the 
head   of  his  prisoner,   Tikas.     A  group  of  be- 
tween fifty  and  seventy-five,  composed  of  sol- 
diers, the  ununiformed  men  of  Troop  A,  mine 
guards  and  deputy  sheriffs,  was  present  with 
these   prisoners.      An    attempt   to   hang   Tikas 
went    so   far   that   a   rope   was    procured   and 
thrown  over  a  telegraph  pole.     This  lynching 
was  prevented  by  Lieut.  K.  E.  Linderfelt,  who 
turned  Tikas  over  to  a  non-commissioned  of- 
ficer, whom  he  directed  to  be  responsible  for 
his    life,    and    then    departed.      Shortly    after- 
wards all  three  prisoners  were  killed  by  gun- 
shot wounds.     The  crowd  and  prisoners  were 
colony,  and  these  men  were  shot  while  running 
about  fifty  yards  from  the  corner  of  the  tent 
toward  the  tents.     The  evidence  is  conflicting 
whether  they  were   made  to  run   or  tried   to 
escape.     Tikas,  after  running  a  few  feet,  fell, 
shot  three  times  in  the  back.     The  only  bullet 
found  in  his  body  was  of  a  kind  not  used  by 
the   soldiers,   although   the   two   other   wounds 
might  have  been  made  by  the  Springfield  bul- 
lets of  the  uniformed  men.    Filer  fell  after  run- 
ning  some  distance  beyond,  having  reached  the 
colony.       The     evidence     is     also     conflicting 
whether   at   the   time  these   men    were   killed, 
shots    were    being    interchanged    between    the 
soldiers  and  their  allies  with  the  tent  colony, 
but  Filer  was  shot  in  the  front  while  running 
toward  the  tents. 

10.  Eleven   children   and   two   women   were 
smothered  to  death  in  a   small  pit  under  one 
of  the  tents.    None  of  them  was  hit  by  a  bullet. 
This  pit  was  not  large  enough  to  support  the 
life  of  such  a  number  for  many  hours.     The 
construction    of    the    pit    made    it    a    veritable 
death-trap,  and  its  inmates  probably  died  from 
suffocation  before  the  tents  were  burned.  When 

26 


found  there  were  no  signs  that  the  women  and 
children  had  crowded  into  the  entrance  of  the 
pit,  as  would  have  been  the  case  had  they  at- 
tempted to  rush  out  when  the  tent  above 
caught  fire. 

11.  We  find  that  the  colony  was  looted  by 
participants  and  spectators  in  the  battle.  About 
15,000  rounds  of  ammunition  were  taken  from 
the  tent  marked  "Headquarters  of  John  Law- 
son." 

12.  All  women  and  children  have  been  ac- 
counted for.     Every  possible  pit  or  cellar  has 
been  examined,  and  no   bodies  remain  in  the 
colony. 

13.  Only  one  person  was  killed  or  wounded 
in  the  colony  itself  by  gunshot.    Frank  Snyder, 
a   twelve-year-old  boy,   was  shot  in  the  head. 
His   father  stated  that  evening  that  this   boy 
had  gone  outside  the  tent  upon  a  call  of  nature 
and  was  shot  in  the  forehead  while  facing  the 
arroyo  from  which  the  strikers'  fire  came. 

14.  The  colony  was  not  swept  with  the  ma- 
chine guns.    This  is  proven  by  the  fact  that  the 
chicken-houses,    out-houses,    tent    frames    and 
posts  still   standing  in  the   colony   exhibit  no 
bullet-holes,    while    the    buildings    and    fences 
along  the  railroad  track  are  riddled  with  bullet- 
holes  made  by  the  machine  gun  trained  on  the 
steel  bridge  and  pump  house. 

15.  The  soldiers  were  lawfully  and  dutifully 
bearing  arms.     It  was  lawful  for  them  to  pos- 
sess the  machine  gun  and  to  bring  it  to  the 
hill.     The   strikers,    on  the   other  hand,   were 
acting  unlawfully  in  securing  and  using  their 
arms   and   ammunition.     No   attack   upon   the 
colony  had  ever  been  made  or  intended  by  the 
soldiers,   and    the   explanatiou   that   arms   and 
ammunition   were   kept  in   the   colony   for  de- 
fense is  untenable. 

16.  We  find  that  in  apparent  anticipation  of 
a  preparation   for   the   battle  at  Ludlow,   rifle 
pits  were  prepared  by  the  strikers  on  the  south 
side  of  their  colony  along  the  county  road  and 
close  to  the  tents  and  along  the  west  side  of 
the  colony.     These  rifle  pits  show  conclusively 
the  careful  and  deliberate  preparation  of  the 
strikers  for  battle,  and  their  location  along  the 
front  and   side   of   the   colony   nearest   to   the 
military  camp  was  such  that  when  used  they 
could  not  be  defended  against   without  firing 
into  the  colony.     Such  care  had  the  strikers 
themselves  for  their  women  and  children  that 
these  pits  were  located   where  any  return  of 
the  fire   from   them   would   be  drawn   directly 
into  the  colony  itself. 

27 


Recommendations  of  the 
Board 

We  make  the  following1  recommendations: 

A.  Feeling  that  this  board  of  officers   was 
not  constituted  to  determine  possible  guilt  or 
innocence,  we  recommend  that  a  general  court 
martial  be  appointed  to  try  all  officers  and  en- 
listed men  participating  in  the  treatment  and 
killing  of  prisoners,  and  the  burning  and  loot- 
ing of  the  tent  colony. 

B.  We  recommend  to  the  legislature  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  permanent  state  constabulary 
for   police    duty   in    disturbed    regions    of   the 
state,  whereby  the  young  men  of  our  volunteer 
National  Guard  may  be  relieved  from  engaging 
in  riot  duty  with  a  people  numbering  among 
them   ferocious  foreigners  whose   savagery  in 
fight   we   found   exemplified   in   the   killing   of 
Major  Lester   while  under  Red   Cross   protec- 
tion, and  the  maiming  and  mutilation  of  Pri- 
vates Martin,  Hockersmith  and  Chavez. 

C.  We  strongly  urge  the  state  and  federal 
governments  to  proceed  at  once  to  the  appre- 
hension and  punishment  of  all  persons  engaged 
as  instigators  or  participants  in  the  treasons, 
murders,  arsons  and  other  acts  of  outlawry  in 
this  state  since  the  battle  of  Ludlow. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

EDWARD   J.    BOUGHTON, 

Major  and  Judge  Advocate. 

WILLIAM   C.   DANKS, 

Captain,    First    Infantry. 

PHILIP  S.  VAN  CISB, 

Captain,  First  Infantry. 


28 


Additional  Recommendation  of 
Major  Boughton 

I  feel  it  my  duty  to  add  a  recommendation 
to  those  made  by  the  Board  of  Officers.  Be- 
lieving that  the  outbreak  at  Ludlow  was  di- 
rectly due  to  the  presence  near  each  other  of 
deadly  enemies  in  the  persons  of  strikers,  non- 
union workmen  and  mine  guards,  festering  a 
canker  of  hate  and  brutality  of  which  the  battle 
was  the  inevitable  expression,  I  greatly  fear 
that  the  same  forces  again  at  work  will  again 
develop  the  same  or  a  similar  result.  To  my 
thinking,  good  citizenship  demands  that  these 
elements  of  rapine  and  slaughter  be  kept  apart. 
As  the  mines  and  coal  camps  cannot  be  moved 
away,  I  recommend  that  the  Commanding  Gen- 
eral and  the  Governor  urge  upon  the  command- 
ing officer  of  the  federal  troops  the  unwisdom 
and  danger  of  permitting  the  tent  colony  to 
be  re-established  at  Ludlow. 

My  brother  officers  do  not  feel  the  necessity 
for  such  a  step. 

EDWARD  J.  BOUGHTON, 
Major  and  Judge  Advocate. 


29 


